The first consideration is usually schools. I know for my family we have moved to be closer to a high school I always thought was great. There can be a long discussion about schools, but I want to get to a point where you also consider the friends your child will make.

This is where Real Estate agents have a discussion about location. The amenities to a neighborhood are great. That’s one of the things I write about here. The schools kind of go hand in hand with what a neighborhood can offer. In Seattle there are a few neighborhoods in proximity to the University of Washington that are highly prized. Bryant, Mount Lake, View Ridge, and Laurelhurst are close to the University and are up scale. Surrounding Saint Joseph’s church on Capitol Hill is prized.

Going down into Madison, and Washington Park, you’ll find families that are generational. Everybody knows everybody, and the grand parents also. Queen Anne Hill, and Magnolia could also be the same kind of long term family owned property areas, but they are more transitional. In my opinion they are further removed from the University of Washington goal for the kids to attend, and make relationships for. Literally, in Seattle, you will find people who grew up, went to school, went to the University of Washington, and found jobs all within a 10 mile radius. I’m sure it’s the same in any city in the world.

This expanded the Amsberry Painting services into cleaning exteriors as well as painting. It is now about 25% of the company business, and can be done all year long. A thorough gentle cleaning can prolong the paint job you have on your home for many years. It also freshens the look of the home. Because this is best done in the winter months Jeff chose to stick with painting. It was a hard choice to make.

 After 30 years the quality of the work has improved dramatically. The system for delivering high quality work is much more defined. The common sense approach makes for a much better job. It’s well worth your time to take a bid from Amsberry Painting to compare to those companies that are advertised as higher end.

Amsberry Painting 425-754-1037

All things considered there is one truth about buying Real Estate: Bad News, is Good News. Once people start talking about how bad the real estate market is, that’s the time to buy. We are headed into a period where all the bad news will come together. It could have happened last year, but the current administration chose to prolong the viability of the financial markets.

To be very clear, this had nothing to do with property, in particular housing units. This was more to do with high paying financial sector jobs that could unwind some of the complexities in the derivative markets. It seems unlikely that we will be regulating speculative investment any time soon, but it the mortgages will be less, and less, desirable as an instrument.

Putting people out of their homes looks bad politically, and it was something banks were unprepared for. In my opinion, banks thought they would bully through a few years of collecting mortgage payments, and consumer debt could cover any losses they may take.

Instead we have millions of foreclosed homes waiting in the wings with millions more properties behind on the payments. Unemployment is up, and home prices are falling. All of these things are good for making reasonable offers on your next home purchase.

In the next few weeks we are going to explore when to begin looking and what to be looking for. As always if you have questions you can e-mail me from this site or call.

Saul Cortez can be reached directly at 206-851-4853.

Since making this post we put up a web site for Saul at www.SaulCortez.com

His sub domains are www.CortezGeneralContracting.com for painting, yard work, or larger projects around the home.

On Sundays, after church, people would walk around the top of Queen Anne, see the neighbors and take in the views of the city. To own a home along the Promenade was a coveted location. You can see some of the finest homes, with great attention to detail along with some more modest craftsman homes.

The most popular part of the Promenade is down 8th Avenue West to Highland Drive. This takes in the views of the City and the Grand Wall with lighted fish bowls on the South West side of the Hill. The walk is much longer and goes around the top of Queen Ann Hill. It is mostly flat with a few inclines and declines.

To follow the path completely you would continue East across Queen Ann Avenue, the counter balance and deviate a little to the right from 1st Avenue North to Prospect which will continue East before it gently turns into Bigelow. This is the longest part of the walk that is uninterrupted by turns. It goes North and South along the East side of the Hill.

The North side of the walk is the most confusing. From Bigelow you go left to West Wheeler which winds a bit up to Nob Hill West and you walk across the bridge. Now McGraw is a reoccurring street name and you will be following McGraw Pl to Smith Street and cross Queen Ann Avenue. Here another McGraw Place curves into McGraw Avenue to cross 3rd Avenue. The street gently curving to the right is again McGraw Place.

This next section is taking you past the cemetery which was a customary part of paying respects on a Sunday. So you are headed down 5th Ave to West Raye, right on 8th which takes you to West Fulton and finally a left to 10th Avenue West.

It gets a little complicated here because you are going to loop back into West Wheeler, over to 8th Avenue West and back up to McGraw Avenue, take a left and immediate right onto 7th Avenue West. This is where there is a little shopping area with Macrina Bakery and Rhinestone Rosie’s a block over, but you are headed down 7th.

As you head South on 7th Avenue West you will see the tree lined street give way on the right to the light poles with fish bowls on top. At the end of that wall you see West Blaine turning to the right and then a left on 8th Avenue West completes the loop down to West Highland Drive. 

Of course now, with cars, you still see people walking, but not the fancy clothes of an afternoon stroll. Baby strollers and sweats are more normal. Still if you have the time, or you want some place other than Green Lake, you could spend a few hours in the afternoon walking around the Promenade that encircles the top of Queen Ann Hill.

Anyway, while I was turning around to park in front of the bakery I saw Rhinestone Rosie’s. It’s at 606 West Crockett Street. You’ll need the address to look it up, otherwise it’s hard to find.

There is a companion piece that I’m writing on our Peru Hope blog about women owned businesses, and you will find four in a row on Crockett Street along side Rhinestone Rosie’s. There is also a two tailors, a kimono jacket shop, and a house design store across the street. It’s an interesting outing and probably a great walking tour of a neighborhood.

Jewelry is near and dear to my heart and has been since I was a kid. Our neighbor collected, and sold costume jewelry. I’ve written about Alana’s Jewelry in the Northgate Mall as a fine place to get estate and unusual pieces. Here at Rosie’s it’s all fun. There is nothing better to accent your day than with some thing bright and sparkley.

Dressing is kind of a lost art with the Gap, and Banana Republic. It’s kind of drab, fashion has gotten kind of routine. Today when you see a woman dressed in big necklaces, or star encrusted broaches you divert your eyes rather than stare. The ordinary is a fashion statement.

OK, so you are just going to Rosie’s to look. It’s worth a trip, the same trip people make from all over the country. Costume jewelery is a lost art. It’s like museum stuff that is fun to look at. It would take a certain confidence to actually wear it. It’s from an era of small pleasures, days when you wanted to stand out, have people admire you, because you are an extraordinary person.

So if you should decide to buy something, you will be surprised how reasonably priced a bold statement of style can be.

There was a time when you got a hair cut, or a shoe shine on your lunch break. Now people make a special trip some place, to a salon, for a hair style. I know we don’t call it that any more, but really that’s what we are doing. I’ve been to all of them. The high end, put on a robe spas, to the Gene Jaurez, which is where I met Odette. She was taking training at the Gene Juarez at North Gate Shopping Mall, it’s near my house.

It was a trial and error, but we had so much fun. When she told me she was going to her brother’s Salon down town it took me a while to drag myself down there. It was one of the best things ever.

Samir is a classic hair stylist that your mother would love. Every body loves Samir. He for sure could have had a larger career in a bigger salon setting. instead you walk into an unassuming, meticulously kept, salon with three chairs. It’s a warm feeling that is friendly and professional. People wander in and out, kind of like they are hoping for an opening. It’s a hotel so some people are guests, some employees, and some people who work in the neighborhood. They are kitty korner from the library.

It’s a family place, that is reasonably priced, and the work is excellent. It’s an experience well worth remembering.

In Europe the morning routine is to pick up the bread. Come to think of it this is probably true about the entire world except for the United States. With all the mass production almost anything can pass for bread here, or a bakery, when it’s compared to Safeway. There are places in the Pike Place Market that have daily bread. There are also bakeries. The Macrina is a little bit more diverse.

There is a wide variety of breads, tarts, and pastries, with good definition of flavors. The bread’s also light, the way it should be. It’s an open kitchen concept that relies on the ability to deliver a great product. There’s pride.

This is one of those places that defines a neighborhood. It’s one of the first places I thought of when I started writing about down town Seattle.

The Continental, Seattle Heights, and Water Mark are another set of buildings from the last boom years of development in down town Seattle. They were grand projects of the 1980s. All of Seattle was alive with the new bus tunnel, plans for the WestLake Center, and a revitalization of Pioneer Square.

We now have a new crop of condo projects further North and closer to South Lake Union. What I think gets over looked is how much more activity there is in that part of the city. It is a different neighborhood and may turn out to be more suburban, if that’s possible for a down town location. South Lake Union coupled with the proximity to the Seattle Center gives more open space. The neighborhood was Cascadia and there were many pockets of family who lived there.

Like with any urban center the districts change block to block. Coming up First and Second Avenues you are leaving Pioneer Square, with it’s clubs, and cocktail lounges, and headed towards the Pike Place Market. Honestly, for me, that whole set of about fourteen blocks North is about the same. When you go over to between Third avenue and Seventh the feeling is a little more sophisticated because you are in with the shopping district, and hotels. As you head south from Fifth and Pike you are taking in the Court House and Rainer Club.

The price for living in city, in Seattle, is pretty reasonable. The prices have gone up and down and we are in a down ward trend now. The constant is the vitality of the city. It’s a world of it’s own that seems very friendly to me. Other people who visit make the same comments about how people know one another. Down Town is a community. Everything you could ever want you can find there.

The landscape may be changing with some store closings, but there is a vitality that is still fun to be involved with. This is only a general recommendation to visit down town, and in a later post I’ll mention some businesses of interest. For right now, what I recommend is that you reacquaint yourself with our down town core.

If you have the time, you should take the bus. Bus service is free once you get down town and you should use that. The bus tunnel takes you to most places you want to go. I like to stop at Westlake Center and walk through the Plaza, and up Fifth Avenue. You can spend the day at Pacific Place. All the shops are there in the surrounding area, just like a mall, only better.

Go down to Pioneer Square and cross over to the International District. You’ll find it’s changed with many more places to visit, shop, eat, and enjoy. The trolley can take you back down along the Water Front. You can take the elevator back up to the Pike Place Market and complete your adventure at the Art Museum. There is so much to see and do, it could become a habit.

With the teen age kids, I’m a little tired of the malls. I also like the fact that there is more variety, with the slightest hint of sophistication, to the places we shop, down town.